The average human life expectancy in India has risen to over 68 years, a substantial jump from the baseline of approximately 32 years recorded at independence in 1947. This critical advancement has been driven by systematic, technology-backed modernisations, including optimized irrigation networks, high-yielding seeds, resilient fertilizers, and targeted crop protection products.
Driven by the Green Revolution, the nation successfully broke free from the shackles of chronic food deficits to feed its millions, achieving sustained self-sufficiency and commanding massive productivity surpluses in global food production. Crucially, this low-input, highly productive agricultural system now positions the nation to double its current agricultural exports from a stagnant $50 billion to its true $100-billion global trade potential within the next three years. Critics who attack this legacy frequently rely on outdated historical baselines.
Highly toxic, first-generation chemicals marketed in the sixties and early seventies – such as endrin, lindane, and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCH) – were systematically banned and purged from the domestic market decades ago, leaving exceptions like restricted DDT use strictly confined to public health vector control. India has achieved a critical milestone under its global commitments, moving to completely replace DDT in public health with safe, modernized alternatives.
